The Oireachtas committee dealing with the Sheedy affair has conceded that it cannot hold hearings next week with the three men who resigned over the case.
After a meeting in private session yesterday, the Committee on Justice, Equality and Women's Rights decided to seek the Attorney General's advice before proceeding further. It will write again to the three individuals, restating the request for their co-operation but telling them they will not be needed on May 6th.
So far only the former Dublin county registrar, Mr Michael Quinlan, had indicated he would attend on that date. Representatives of the former High Court judge, Mr Cyril Kelly, have told the committee he is taking a break but will shortly be in contact; while the former Supreme Court judge, Mr Hugh O'Flaherty, is seeking advice on the issue of privilege.
Ms Monica Barnes (FG) will now chair the committee's full deliberations in the Sheedy affair. The committee chairman, Mr Eoin Ryan, yesterday bowed to pressure over a perceived conflict of interests by vacating the chair and withdrawing from the meeting.
Mr Ryan had informed the committee that Ms Patricia McNamara, the wife of Mr Kelly, was a leading Fianna Fail figure in his Dublin South East constituency. Earlier this week the committee had agreed a compromise whereby Mr Ryan would remove himself for the questioning of Mr Kelly.
But Labour's justice spokesman, Mr Brendan Howlin, said the potential interweaving of the witnesses' answers made this position untenable.
Ms Barnes afterwards praised Mr Ryan's decision, saying he had acted very properly to ensure the committee's deliberations were beyond reproach.
While the indefinite postponement of substantive hearings raises the prospect that it may be weeks before the principals in the Sheedy case are called, it is understood that the legal advice received by the committee is that the process being embarked upon is fraught with pitfalls.
One of the many issues the committee is seeking guidance about is whether a presiding judge - in this case Judge Joseph Mathews who gave the sentence in the Philip Sheedy case - could be called before an Oireachtas committee. Granting Sheedy an extension of time to appeal the sentence earlier this week, Judge Mathews commented on "collateral" issues in the case, which should be dealt with in the "appropriate forum".
On the other hand, problems would also arise if the committee proceeded with hearings without calling individuals who could be affected by what witnesses say.
The need to define the committee's powers, and to decide whether it needs any new ones, has prompted the decision to defer hearings. But Ms Barnes said yesterday: "There's a real concern that we shouldn't cross over into judicial terrain."
